System and method for automatic task prioritization

ABSTRACT

A system and method for automatic task prioritization comprises one or more task queues, a monitoring module, and a decision engine. The decision engine receives tasks and assigns a priority code to each task. Each task is inserted into one of the task queues according to its priority code and the priority codes of other tasks which may be present in the task queues. Agents select tasks to perform from the task queue according to priority guidelines established by a system user. The monitoring module may monitor the order of the tasks selected by the agents and each task&#39;s priority code. The monitoring module feeds this information back to the decision module. In one embodiment, the decision module is a learning system that updates stored data using feedback from the monitoring module to determine priority of each task.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application and claims the prioritybenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/008,152 filed Dec. 4,2001 and now U.S. Pat. No. 6,961,720, which is a continuationapplication and claims the priority benefit of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/602,588 filed Jun. 21, 2000 and now U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,277.The disclosure of these commonly owned applications is incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to electronic systems, andrelates more particularly to a system and method for automatic taskprioritization.

2. Description of the Related Art

Many organizations are under a constant barrage of interactions withcustomers, suppliers, partners, and others. These organizationstypically have a limited number of resources to process all of theincoming information and tasks in a timely manner. This problem isexacerbated when the interactions occur via multiple channels and over awide geographic area. An organization may receive and send informationvia telephone, facsimile, electronic mail, and other electroniccommunication forms.

Incoming interactions may be processed on a first-come, first-servedbasis. This approach may be adequate for some organizations, when thequantity of interactions is relatively small. However, for organizationsthat process a large number of interactions, an interaction thatrequires an immediate resolution or response may be delayed due to thenumber of interactions ahead of it in the system. This and otherlimitations may prevent the organization from providing excellentservice.

Similar to a hospital emergency room, incoming information and tasks maybe triaged, whereby items having higher priorities than the others areprocessed first. Typically, an agent determines which information andtasks are more important and prioritizes them accordingly. When anorganization processes hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of interactionsa day, efficiently prioritizing the information and tasks at hand likelyrequires a large number of agents. However, a large number of agents isno assurance that information and tasks will be prioritized efficientlyand accurately. Thus, a system and method for automatic taskprioritization is needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system and method to automaticallyprioritize tasks. The invention includes one or more task queues, amonitoring module, and a decision engine. The decision engine receivestasks and assigns a priority code to each task. A task may be an actionthat is to be performed by an agent or an electronic system.Alternatively, a task may be a piece of data that must be acted upon insome fashion, for example a news item received by a news service or apiece of intelligence data received by an intelligence gatheringorganization.

In one embodiment, the decision engine includes a task parser thatanalyzes and parses each task into concepts and relationships betweenthe concepts. In one embodiment, the task parser includes a naturallanguage processor for parsing text-based tasks expressed in naturallanguage.

Each task is inserted into the task queue or queues according to itspriority code and the priority codes of other tasks which may be presentin the task queue. Agents select tasks to perform from the task queuesaccording to priority guidelines established by a system user. Themonitoring module monitors the order of the tasks selected by the agentsand each task's priority code. The monitoring module feeds back thisinformation to the decision module.

In one embodiment, the decision module is a learning system that usesfeedback from the monitoring module to update stored priority data. Thedecision module learns the priority guidelines of the system user bylearning from the order in which agents select tasks from the taskqueue. Thus, a system user may adjust its priority guidelines and, basedon the selections of the agents, the decision engine will automaticallyupdate its priority data.

In another embodiment, the decision engine may be a rule-based systemthat prioritizes tasks according to a predetermined set of rules. Inthis embodiment, a change in the system user's priority guidelinesrequires changes to the rules of the decision engine. In a furtherembodiment of the invention, the decision engine may include arule-based system that is supplemented by a learning system. In thisembodiment, rules may be used to determine priorities of tasks until thelearning system has received sufficient feedback to make prioritydecisions, or the rules may establish general guidelines that arefurther refined by feedback.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an electronic interactionsystem, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the operations center ofFIG. 1, in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the decision engine ofFIG. 2, in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of method steps for performing automatic taskprioritization, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of method steps for updating the operations centerof FIG. 1, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an electronic interactionsystem 100 which includes, but is not limited to, a contact center 112,an operations center 114, and an agent pool 116. System 100 may alsoinclude data access services 120 (middleware), legacy systems 122, frontoffice systems 123, back office systems 124, and databases 125, 126.Contact center 112 may interact with other parties via variouscommunication channels. The channels include, but are not limited to, atelephone (phone) 130 channel, a facsimile (fax) 131 channel, an E-mail132 channel, a web-based communication (web) 133 channel, a chatcommunication (chat) 134 channel, and a wireless 135 channel. Other 136forms of communication channels, for example, a news wire service, arewithin the scope of the invention.

Communications received by contact center 112 may be in the form oftasks. Although tasks in particular are discussed here, other types oftext-based communications, for example remote employees' reports, arewithin the scope of the invention. Contact center 112 may also receivevoice communications that require some action by an agent. Contactcenter 112 may include a speech recognition module that converts a voicecommunication into a text communication.

A task may be an action that is to be performed by an agent or anelectronic system. Alternatively, a task may be a piece of data thatmust be acted upon in some fashion, for example a news item. A skilledperson typically determines whether each received news item should bedisseminated, archived, or otherwise processed. In another embodiment ofthe invention, system 100 may be utilized by an intelligence gatheringorganization, and a task may be an intelligence item. A skilled persontypically determines whether each received intelligence item should beimmediately forwarded to supervisory personnel or routed through routinechannels.

Contact center 112 forwards tasks to operations center 114. Agents140-144 in agent pool 116 select via path 160 tasks that are received byoperations center 114. Each agent 140-144 is preferably a skilled persontrained to perform the types of tasks typically received by system 100.Although only five agents are shown in FIG. 1, agent pool 116 mayinclude any number of agents.

Data access services 120 may access legacy systems 122, front officesystems 123, back office systems 124, and databases 125, 126 to storeand retrieve data. Data access services 120 also communicates via path164 with agent pool 116 to provide information needed by agents 140-144to act upon the incoming tasks. In addition, the tasks acted upon byagents 140-144 may result in changes to data stored in system 100. Dataaccess services 120 may also provide information to operations center114.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the operations center 114of FIG. 1, in accordance with the invention. Operations center 114includes, but is not limited to, a task queue 210, a decision engine212, a monitoring module 214, and an agent interface 216. Although onlyone task queue 210 is shown in FIG. 2, operations center 114 may includea plurality of task queues, where each task queue is configured to storea certain type of task or kind of information. For example, in anintelligence gathering organization, operations center 114 may include atask queue 210 for each of several different geographical regions.

Decision engine 212 receives tasks via path 150 from contact center 112.Decision engine 212 analyzes and assigns a priority code to each task.Decision engine 212 may also receive data via path 154 from data accessservices 120. Data received via path 154 is preferably associated with aparticular task. The contents and functionality of decision engine 212are further discussed below in conjunction with FIG. 3.

Decision engine 212 sends each task, via path 220, to task queue 210which stores each task until the task is selected and acted upon by anagent 140-144. The tasks in task queue 210 are ranked from highestpriority to lowest priority according to the priority code assigned bydecision engine 212. Each incoming task is stored in task queue 210according to the task's priority code, and how that priority codecompares to priority codes of other tasks that may be present in taskqueue 210. Thus, the order of tasks in task queue 210 may be rearrangedwith every incoming task.

Each agent 140-144, via agent interface 216 and path 222, selects tasksto perform according to a judgment of priority. Each agent's judgment ofpriority is based on and preferably in accordance with priorityguidelines established by the system user. Variations among theselections of the various individual agents are averaged across thetotal number of agents. Thus, an individual agent's personal judgment ofpriority will not unduly skew the overall priority criteria of system100.

Monitoring module 214 monitors via path 224 the tasks selected by eachagent 140-144. Each selected task and its priority code are noted bymonitoring module 214 and fed back via path 226 to decision engine 212.Decision engine 212 analyzes the order in which the tasks were selectedfrom task queue 210.

By placing tasks in task queue 210 according to priorities, decisionengine 212 advantageously allows agents 140-144 to more efficientlyidentify and process tasks having high priority. This advantage isespecially apparent when task queue 210 contains a large number oftasks. In many instances, agents 140-144 will select tasks to act uponin an order which is consistent with decision engine's 212 determinationof priority. However, the priority of each task in task queue 210 may befine-tuned by an agent's personal judgment of priority. The impact of anagent's 140-144 judgment of priority is further discussed below inconjunction with FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the FIG. 2 decisionengine 212 in accordance with the invention. The FIG. 3 embodiment ofdecision engine 212 includes, but is not limited to, a task parser 312and a priority module 314. Task parser 312 receives tasks via path 150from contact center 112.

In the FIG. 3 embodiment, task parser 312 analyzes content each task.Task parser 312 parses each task into concepts, and may also identifyrelationships between the concepts. Concepts may be as general as singlewords from e-mail texts, or may be as specific as field descriptors froma web-based form. Task parser 312 preferably includes a natural languageprocessor that analyzes content of text communications expressed innatural language. In another embodiment, task parser 312 identifieskeywords in each task to determine content of the task.

Task parser 312 may also include a voice communication processor (notshown) that analyzes tasks received via a voice-based channel, wherethese voice tasks were not converted to text by contact center 112. Thevoice communication processor may be configured to detect emotionalcontent of a voice task as well as to parse the task into concepts.Emotional content such as stress or anger may correspond to prioritycriteria that indicate a high priority.

Task parser 312 sends parsed tasks via path 320 to priority module 314.Priority module 314 compares the parsed tasks with its priority data andassigns a priority code to each task. In one embodiment, the prioritycode may represent one of a limited number of priority levels, forexample “very low,” “low,” “medium,” “high,” and “very high.” In anotherembodiment, the priority code may be expressed as a percentage, forexample 0% to indicate the lowest priority and 100% to indicate thehighest priority. Other schemes for expressing priorities of tasks arewithin the scope of the present invention.

Priority of tasks may be determined based on the nature of the tasksreceived by system 100 and priority guidelines established by a systemuser. For example, if the system user is a financial institution, thenthe tasks received by system 100 may be fund transfers, loanapplications, or other similar types of tasks. Priority for these typesof tasks may be based on service level agreements with customers, dollaramounts mentioned in the tasks, and other similar criteria.

In another example, an interaction may have high priority if it containsa threat to initiate a legal action or a threat of violence. If thesystem user is a news service, priority may be based on geographicregion, mention of a particular individual, or subject matter such ascrime, politics, or lifestyle.

In one embodiment, priority module 314 is a learning system. One suchlearning system is described in U.S. Provisional Application No.60/176,411, filed Jan. 13, 2000, entitled “System and Method forEffective and Efficient Electronic Communication Management,” which ishereby incorporated by reference. Priority module 314 learns which tasksare considered more important than other tasks based on the order inwhich tasks are selected from task queue 210 by agents 140. Prioritymodule 314 receives feedback via path 226 from monitoring module 214.The feedback may be positive or negative. Feedback may be consideredpositive if a selected task has a priority code that is lower than thepriority codes of preceding selected tasks. Feedback may be considerednegative if a selected task has a priority code that is higher than thepriority codes of preceding selected tasks.

Priority module 314 utilizes the feedback to update stored prioritydata. In this embodiment, a system user need only indicate to agents140-144 any changes in priority criteria, and priority module 314 learnsthe new criteria via feedback. In this way, agents' 140-144 judgments ofpriority adjust the priority criteria of priority module 314. Thus, whenthe system user indicates changes in priority criteria, system 100 mayremain online with no interruptions in operation.

Since, in an embodiment, priority module 314 is a learning system, newtypes of tasks may be received by system 100 and based on the selectionsof agents 140-144, priority module 314 learns how the priority of thenew type of task compares to the priorities of other tasks. Thus, system100 may receive and learn to prioritize new types of tasks with nointerruptions in operation.

In another embodiment, priority module 314 is a rule-based system.Priority module 314 assigns a priority code to a task according to apredetermined set of rules. An exemplary rule may be that tasksassociated with a dollar amount above five hundred dollars will have ahigher priority than tasks associated with a lesser dollar amount. Theserules typically remain unchanged until the system user affirmativelychanges them. In the rule-based embodiment, priority module 314 may alsoreceive feedback from monitoring module 214. The feedback may beperiodically compared to the rules to determine if a rule may need to bemodified. The rules may establish general guidelines that are refined byfeedback.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of method steps for performing automatic taskprioritization in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.First, in step 410, operations center 114 receives a task from contactcenter 112. In step 412, decision engine 212 parses the task intoconcepts and the relationships between the concepts. Alternatively,decision engine 212 identifies keywords in the task. In step 414,priority module 314 (FIG. 3) compares the parsed task with prioritycriteria. In one embodiment, priority module 314 learns the prioritycriteria from feedback. In another embodiment, priority module 314compares the parsed task with a predetermined set of rules for assigningpriority.

In step 416, priority module 314 determines the priority of the task andassigns it a priority code. Then, in step 418, priority module 314 sendsthe task and priority code to task queue 210, inserting the task in taskqueue 210 according to the priority code of the task and the prioritycodes of any other tasks that may be in task queue 210.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of method steps for updating the FIG. 2 decisionengine 212 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. First, instep 510, agent 140 for example selects a task from task queue 210.Agent 140 selects the task based on priority as established by a user ofsystem 100. The position of the task in task queue 210 preferablyreflects the task's priority relative to the priorities of other tasksin task queue 210.

In step 512, monitoring module 214 monitors the task selected and itspriority code. In step 514, monitoring module 214 inputs the task andits priority code via path 226 to priority module 314. Then, in step516, priority module 314 uses the task's content and priority code toupdate the priority data. The task's content includes concepts and theirrelationships.

The invention has been explained above with reference to an exemplaryembodiment. Other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in theart in light of this disclosure. These and other variations upon theexemplary embodiment are intended to be covered by the invention, whichis limited only by the appended claims.

1. An electronic interaction system for automatically prioritizingelectronic communications received from other parties, comprising: acontact center, performed by an electronic system, for receiving thecommunications; a monitoring module, performed by an electronic system,for monitoring an order of the communications selected by each agentaccording to a judgment of priority made by each agent, wherein theagent performs one or more actions in responding to the selectedcommunications and the actions are determined by the communications'type; a decision engine, performed by an electronic system, fordetermining a priority code for each of the received communications,wherein the decision engine is a learning system that uses feedback fromthe monitoring performed by the monitoring module to adjust how thepriority code is determined, so that the priority code for each of thereceived communications is determined automatically from the judgment ofpriority made by each agent; and at least one queue, in an electronicsystem, for storing the prioritized communications in order of theirpriority code to allow the agents to more efficiently identify andprocess the communications having higher priority codes; therebyautomatically prioritizing the electronic communications received fromother parties by the electronic interaction system.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the decision engine comprises a parser configured toanalyze content of the received communications.
 3. The system of claim1, wherein the communications comprise text communications and thedecision engine comprises a parser configured to parse text of the textcommunications.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications arereceived by the contact center via a text-based communication channel.5. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications are voicecommunications and the decision engine comprises a parser configured toanalyze content of the voice communications.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein an agent having a judgment of priority selects prioritizedcommunications from the queue according to the judgment of priority. 7.The system of claim 1, wherein the decision engine comprises a parserconfigured to parse the received communications and a priority moduleconfigured to receive parsed communications from the parser anddetermine the priority code for each of the parsed communications. 8.The system of claim 1, wherein the priority code is determined inaccordance with priority guidelines established by a user of the system.9. The system of claim 8, wherein changes to the priority guidelines arecommunicated to the agents, and the judgment of priority made by eachagent is adjusted in accordance with the changes to the priorityguidelines, which results in changes to one or more of the prioritycodes via the feedback from the monitoring performed by the monitoringmodule, thereby altering the electronic interaction system's operation.10. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more new types of thecommunications are received by electronic interaction system, and thepriority codes of the new types of the communications are determined bythe judgment of priority made by each agent, thereby altering theelectronic interaction system's operation.
 11. An electronic interactionsystem for automatically prioritizing electronic tasks received fromother parties, comprising: a contact center, performed by an electronicsystem, for receiving the tasks; a monitoring module, performed by anelectronic system, for monitoring an order of the tasks selected by eachagent according to a judgment of priority made by each agent, whereinthe agent performs one or more actions in responding to thecommunications and the actions are determined by the communications'type; a decision engine, performed by an electronic system, fordetermining a priority code for each of the tasks, wherein the decisionengine is a learning system that uses feedback from the monitoringperformed by the monitoring module to adjust how the priority code isdetermined, so that the priority code for each of the tasks isdetermined automatically from the judgment of priority made by eachagent; and at least one queue, in an electronic system, for storing thetasks in order of their priority code to allow the agents to moreefficiently identify and process the tasks having higher priority codes;thereby automatically prioritizing the electronic tasks received fromother parties by the electronic interaction system.
 12. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the decision engine comprises a parser configured toanalyze content of the tasks.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein thedecision engine comprises a parser configured to parse text of thetasks.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein the tasks are received by thecontact center via a text-based communication channel.
 15. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the tasks are voice tasks and the decision enginecomprises a parser configured to analyze content of the voice tasks. 16.The system of claim 11, wherein an agent having a judgment of priorityselects tasks from the queue according to the judgment of priority. 17.The system of claim 11, wherein the decision engine comprises a parserconfigured to parse the tasks and a priority module configured toreceive parsed tasks from the parser and determine the priority code foreach of the tasks.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the priority codeis determined in accordance with priority guidelines established by auser of the system.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein changes to thepriority guidelines are communicated to the agents, and the judgment ofpriority made by each agent is adjusted in accordance with the changesto the priority guidelines, which results in changes to one or more ofthe priority codes via the feedback from the monitoring performed by themonitoring module, thereby altering the electronic interaction system'soperation.
 20. The system of claim 11, wherein one or more new types ofthe tasks are received by electronic interaction system, and thepriority codes of the new types of the tasks are determined by thejudgment of priority made by each agent, thereby altering the electronicinteraction system's operation.
 21. A method for automaticallyprioritizing communications received from other parties in an electronicinteraction system, comprising: receiving the communications at acontact center performed by an electronic system; monitoring, in amonitoring module performed by an electronic system, an order of thecommunications selected by each agent according to a judgment ofpriority made by each agent, wherein the agent performs one or moreactions in responding to the communications and the actions aredetermined by the communications' type; determining, in a decisionengine performed by an electronic system, a priority code for each ofthe received communications, wherein the decision engine is a learningsystem that uses feedback from the monitoring performed by themonitoring module to adjust how the priority code is determined, so thatthe priority code for each of the received communications is determinedautomatically from the judgment of priority made by each agent; andstoring the prioritized communications in at least one queue, in anelectronic system, in order of their priority code to allow the agentsto more efficiently identify and process the communications havinghigher priority codes; thereby automatically prioritizing the electroniccommunications received from other parties by the electronic interactionsystem.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of determining apriority code comprises analyzing content of the receivedcommunications.
 23. The method of claim 21, wherein the step ofdetermining a priority code comprises parsing text of the receivedcommunications.
 24. The method of claim 21, wherein the communicationsare received via a text-based communication channel.
 25. The method ofclaim 21, wherein the communications comprise voice communications andthe step of determining a priority code comprises analyzing content ofthe voice communications.
 26. The method of claim 21, wherein an agenthaving a judgment of priority selects communications from the queueaccording to the judgment of priority.
 27. The method of claim 21,wherein changes to priority guidelines are communicated to the agents,and the judgment of priority made by each agent is adjusted inaccordance with the changes to the priority guidelines, which results inchanges to one or more of the priority codes via the feedback from themonitoring performed by the monitoring module, thereby altering theelectronic interaction system's operation.
 28. The method of claim 21,wherein one or more new types of the communications are received byelectronic interaction system, and the priority codes of the new typesof the communications are determined by the judgment of priority made byeach agent, thereby altering the electronic interaction system'soperation.